I've called Philips support (Italy here) and their technician said both versions (Retail & OEM/bulk) use the same hardware (apart from the front bezel).

However I didn't mentioned cross-flashing ...

He gave me this link to download the firmware for OEM/bulk versions of the Philips drives: www.p4c.philips.com

He added that the firmware for bulk/OEM version (PBDV1640) is due out very soon.

I'm going to buy one of these drives, because of the FANTASTIC ability to bypass perfectly all known AUDIO copy protection. I don't want to trash my ORIGINAL cd's.... prefer using a good backup! Hope this bulk version will retain that ability!!!

Here in Italy all the money is spent about digital television... no one cares about DSL service... this makes me very angry!!! Digital tv is useless... well, except for our prime minister, Berluscon ... he owns ALL tv channels in Italy.......... a little Murdock, we could say... so it's logical to spend PUBLIC money for its PRIVATE TV...